Leaving
by Ava Blook
Summary: The twins' summer in Gravity Falls wasn't supposed to be like this, wasn't supposed to end the way it did. Sadness, angst, major character death later. Idea belongs to dawooster, story is mine.
1. 1

The bus was coming today.

It was the twins' birthday. They would be thirteen tomorrow.

Today, they were supposed to leave.

Mabel had spent the night having one last slumber party with Candy and Grenda, who had seen her off this morning with hugs and sobs and promises to call and write.

Dipper had no one in Gravity Falls to say goodbye to, not really.

As the twins and Stan stood near the edge of town waiting for the bus, Stan noticed how Dipper was trying to hide his tears, blinking a lot and lowering his gaze.

Mabel couldn't be bothered, and her tears were flowing hot and fast over her cheeks as she stood silently, holding onto her pile of luggage to keep it upright.

If only they had more time, another week, month, year. If only the bus never came, and they never had to face it.

But the bus did come. It pulled to a stop at the curb, and the doors hissed open.

Mabel hefted her bags up onto the steps, but then she turned back.

She raced towards Stan and slammed him into a hug, her crying turning into the ugly kind with snot bubbling from her nose as she tried to choke out a goodbye.

"G-grunkle Stan, I'm gonna come back next summer, and I'm gonna call every day, okay? So this isn't goodbye for real."

"I know, kid," Stan said, the sadness he felt slipping into his voice.

"Take care of Waddles for me?" she squeaked. Stan knelt to fit into her hug better, and patted her on the back.

"Of course, sweetie."

With a sob, Mabel broke apart from her Great-Uncle and turned to her brother.

In an instant, Dipper felt his sister's strong grip around him, catching him in a hug that practically choked him. He stopped trying to hold back his tears, and they rushed into Mabel's hair.

Mabel was crying too hard to talk for a moment, until the bus driver honked and jolted her out of it.

"What I said to Stan goes for you too, okay?" Mabel said, her voice thick with a sadness that none of them were used to hearing.

"This isn't goodbye for good."

"I know," Dipper said, giving her a sad smile. He couldn't break down the way she was, not yet. Mabel had to go back, had to be able to get home without worrying any more than she already was. He couldn't stop her from that.

Mabel leaned into another hug, and whispered in Dipper's ear.

"I love you, bro-bro."

"I love you, too," he whispered back.

And then the bus driver honked again, too soon, and Mabel was pulling away and pulling out her bus ticket, and all of this was happening too soon, and now the bus doors were shutting behind her and _it wasn't supposed to be this way!_

The bus began to drive off ever so slowly, working its way up as it drove towards the edge of town. Dipper and Stan could see Mabel out the back window, waving, and Stan began waving back.

Dipper started to run, chasing after the bus, heading for the edge of town. Maybe, this time, it would be different, maybe he could do it this time.

He had to try.

Mabel could see him running, and she'd started crying even harder, because she knew he wanted to come home with her, and _this summer wasn't supposed to turn out like this._

The bus rushed past the sign that marked the edge of town, back towards Piedmont. Mabel, still out the back window, watched as Dipper kept chasing the bus.

Watched as he hit an invisible wall and stopped.

Dipper pounded his hands against the wall and screamed. Why him, why was he the only one who could feel this invisible dome over the town of Gravity Falls, why was he the only one trapped inside it?

He threw himself against the barrier, hoping that maybe this time, or this time, he'd be able to break through, able to go back home with Mabel.

Stan rounded the corner to find Dipper lying on the ground, sobbing, at the edge of the town, the very barrier of where he could go, of where he'd live his life.

"Hey kid, hey, it's gonna be okay," Stan said, leaning down and laying a hand around Dipper's shoulders. "You heard her, she's gonna be coming back."

"I know," Dipper sobbed.

"But I miss her so much already."


	2. 2

Mabel's wedding was down in Los Angeles.

She hadn't been able to hold it in Gravity Falls—she'd told Dipper something about her fiancé Henry's grandmother having a bad knee and not being able to travel that far—so instead she sent Dipper a package full of photos, favors, and even preserved flowers from the decorations.

The day it arrived, Dipper spent the afternoon at the kitchen table in the Shack, poring over the pages of a wedding scrapbook Mabel had put in, with pages of photos of every detail. He could remember when he used to be annoyed at the level of detail she included in her scrapbooks, but now he could appreciate it. Seeing all the little details like this, he could picture it better, almost imagine that he'd been there with her.

But of course he hadn't.

He'd been stuck in Gravity Falls for years.

He didn't mind it all the time. Exploring the forest and expanding on the Journals took up a lot of his time and didn't leave much room in his head for thoughts about anything else. It was only when he went to bed that the thoughts of what he was missing, of what he could have had, started to swirl in his head.

Needless to say, he didn't sleep much these days.

(Instead, he'd go three or four days without sleeping, then pass out somewhere from sheer exhaustion. Stan would usually bring him a pillow and blanket or something, and he'd wake up a dozen or so hours later, completely disoriented.)

Dipper ran his fingers down a page where Mabel had stapled a scrap of fabric torn from her veil. He could feel the soft, sheer fabric, cool against his fingertips, and his eyes were fixed on a picture of Henry flipping the veil over Mabel's forehead where you could see it floating, apparently weightless.

Dipper smiled and wished he could have been there to see it. Of course, even if he could have left the town, it might have been awkward for Mabel—he hadn't been the best with people even before that fateful summer when they were both children.

He flipped the page again, to a two-page spread of pictures of people moving into the reception hall. Dipper recognized Cousin Terry, who looked significantly taller than he'd remembered, and his parents, and of course Candy and Grenda in their bridesmaid gowns. Everyone was smiling, caught up in the happiness of the wedding, and Dipper found himself smiling too.

* * *

When Stan walked back into the kitchen later that night, he found Dipper sprawled across the table, asleep with his head on his sister's wedding scrapbook. He shook his head and pulled the book away before Dipper could start drooling on it, smiling as he rifled through some of the pages. He'd intended to stay home from the wedding with Dipper, but his nephew had pushed him to go, to not miss Mabel's wedding for his sake. He smiled at a picture of Mabel dancing on top of a table, remembering how she'd broken into impromptu karaoke and dedicated her song to her brother.

Stan turned, still smiling, to look at Dipper, who was still passed out cold on the kitchen table. Stan sighed, still smiling fondly, and trudged to the living room. He grabbed a blanket and a pillow from the armchair and brought them back to the kitchen, carefully resting Dipper's head on the pillow and draping the blanket over his narrow shoulders.

When Dipper was asleep like this, the adult expression fell off his face, and Stan found it hard to remember how many years had passed since the summer the kids had come to stay with him. With Dipper asleep, looking as young as he did, he could almost pretend it was still the summer of 2012, that Mabel was just in the next room over, about to come in with a grin that showed more braces than teeth and possibly some more teasing about how she was a millimeter taller than Dipper.

You couldn't tell that the two were twins anymore. Every time Mabel came back to visit in the first few years, she seemed to have shot up another foot, while Dipper . . . hadn't.

Stan flipped to another page, where Mabel was throwing her bouquet to a crowd of girls. She was practically glowing with happiness. It made Stan wonder what Dipper might have looked like, at his sister's wedding or his own, if he'd never come to see Stan. It was a stupid thought, of course, because Dipper _was_ stuck here, and wasn't able to go to his sister's wedding, and would never have one of his own.

Stan glanced back at Dipper, still asleep at the table, his body still small enough that he could have used the table as a bed.

It was some kind of cruel joke, Stan thought, that in the same way that the twin who had most wanted to explore things had been trapped in a single tiny town, the one who had most wanted to grow up never would.


	3. 3

One of the most annoying things about Gravity Falls, Dipper had decided, was that it took only about an hour to walk from one end of the town proper to the other. It was probably a good thing, as well, since he couldn't drive or even get a car, so foot travel was his only option, but it was another reminder of how truly tiny the patch of land he was trapped in was.

Most days he walked leisurely enough, since he didn't really have any time restrictions to worry about, but today he was practically standing still as he made his way through town.

Gravity Falls was different now than it had been when he'd first come here. Most of the familiar faces from that summer were gone, because they'd either moved away or died. Lazy Susan had been replaced at the diner by a younger and perkier newcomer to town, Grenda had moved away with her husband Marius years ago, and even the children of his friends had grown up and, for the most part, left.

Oh, sure, there were still people he recognized left: Candy, and Pacifica Northwest and her son, and Soos and Melody's daughter Wednesday who'd moved to Gravity Falls shortly after graduating college.

But the Mystery Shack had closed decades ago, and Grunkle Stan had died not too long after, and that meant that Gravity Falls would never be the same.

Wednesday waved at him from the steps of the library, where she worked, and Dipper waved back. She seemed to be the only person who recognized him at the moment. The more people that Dipper lost, the less people he tried to meet. What was the point, anyway? Making friends, getting close to people, just to lose them later? Better just to isolate himself as best he could, hole up in the Shack (which Stan had left him in his will) with the Journals and the basement lab, to explore the woods and learn more about the town when he was sure not to run into anyone.

But today was an exception.

Dipper turned off the main road and onto the side path that led to the town's cemetery.

It should be raining, he thought. In the movies it was always raining on the days of important funerals. It had at least been foggy and overcast on the day of Grunkle Stan's funeral.

But today it was bright and sunny, with a cool breeze trickling through the grass and making the leaves on the trees wave. It was a happy-feeling day, and it had no right to be.

Dipper knew too many of the names on the tombstones he passed walking through the graveyard, had known too many of these people. Old Man McGucket, Soos' Abuelita, Manly Dan . . . there was no point remembering them all. At this point Dipper knew more people who were dead than people who were still alive.

Still, there were three headstones in the town cemetery that were important. The first was Grunkle Stan's. Dipper made sure to pass it on his way in, making sure the rose bushes he'd planted were still looking well. Stan had worked as long as he could, until he'd fallen while giving a tour and broken his hip. It was a heart attack that got him in the end—unhealthy lifestyle, the doctors said, but he'd made it to his nineties without slipping into dementia, and that was probably more than Dipper should have asked for.

The second was that of Mabel's husband, Henry. Dipper had gotten to know him in the years he and Mabel were married, when they visited so often they wound up with a second house in town and were recognized as locals by most of the townspeople. Even if the two had never met, he would have been important to Dipper just because he was important to Mabel. He'd died years ago, well before anyone thought he should have, from cancer eating away at his bones, sapping the life from him.

Up ahead, Dipper could see Mabel and Henry's kids, the triplets, crowding around the newest and most important headstone.

Before he could even get close enough to see it properly, Willow was swooping down to hug him, and Dipper felt her tears dripping onto his shoulder.

"Hey, Uncle Dipper," she whispered out.

"Hey, Will," he whispered back, feeling tears build in his own eyes.

Willow pulled back, and Hank spoke up.

"They're almost ready for the funeral," he said, and for a second he seemed so cool and collected, but then Dipper noticed that he was squeezing his wife Vivi's hand so hard Dipper was worried about him breaking her bones.

Acacia and her wife Reina led the rest of them over to where the service was set up, gripping each other's hands tightly, their fingers interwoven. Dipper trailed behind at the very back of the group, and when they reached the dozen or so chairs set up for the actual service, Dipper sat in the back too. Really, he should have sat in the front to see better, since he could barely make out anything over Candy's shaking shoulder, but he didn't really want to see this, didn't really want to hear the words being said about what a kind and loving and cheerful person his sister was.

Had been.

The most important headstone in the graveyard now was Mabel's, which at the moment stood in front of a deep hole in the ground that would all too soon house his sister's cold, aged body.

Things weren't supposed to be like this. They were twins, they should have aged together or not at all. Dipper shouldn't have to be present as everyone stood up again and walked back to that hole in the ground and watched as they lowered his sister in next to her husband's grave, watched as they covered the coffin with dirt, watch as his sister disappeared for good.

Dipper felt like screaming, like throwing himself into the grave with her before it was filled in to be buried with her, so they could be the Mystery Twins, together forever, like they were supposed to be.

Instead he walked away with fists balled up and tears leaking from his eyes. His walk devolved into a run and soon he was darting through the woods he knew better than anyone else ever would, ever could, and screaming, a wordless wail at first, but then screaming words, screaming out his hatred for the being that had made of his life a cruel, twisted joke.

"I HATE YOU! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? ROT IN HELL, YOU PATHETIC DORITO!"

He spit out every swear word he knew, every bit of profanity and ugliness he'd directed towards the demon in his thoughts but never said aloud. He was sure that Bill could hear him, but the demon didn't show up. Dipper almost wished he would, so that he could try to attack him somehow, to make him pay for doing this. Of course it wouldn't have worked, but maybe Bill would have finally killed him for it, and maybe this could all finally end.

He didn't wear himself out with the screaming until after the sun had fallen. He trudged back to the Shack in the darkness, because there was no point taking on Gravity Falls' nocturnal monsters if you didn't have to, and collapsed on the floor. Tears started running down his cheeks again, because now that he wasn't screaming with rage he was thinking again.

His sister was gone. Dead. And he would never see her again, never join her, because Dipper Pines could never die.


	4. 4 (epilogue)

**Here it is, the epilogue, in a completely new format! This is the last update I am planning to make to this story.**

 **The website name in the body of the text is spelled out with 'dot com' because FFN deleted it otherwise.**

 **Hope you all enjoy! I've certainly enjoyed tearing your hearts out!**

* * *

 **Gravity Falls Gossiper** , Sunday July 8, 2085.

Local Miracle

Maria Jimenez

Gravity Falls, Oregon. – On Friday, July 6th, the people of Gravity Falls became witnesses to a miracle.

A vacationing family noticed a young boy apparently in distress in the river that runs through Gravity Falls' forest and park and called 911. The paramedics were quick to respond and swiftly pulled the unconscious boy from the bottom of the river, where he was being swept along by the current. On-scene medics discovered that the boy had numerous wounds, most of them bruises likely caused by being swept into sharp rocks and debris by the current, along with some incongruous wounds, such as what looked like rope burn around his ankles and neck, and prepared to take him to the hospital.

That's when the extraordinary happened.

Around the time the ambulance was crossing the town border, the back doors of the ambulance flew open and the stretcher with the boy on it slipped out of the ambulance, crashing down onto the street and rolling into the woods, where it hit a tree and stopped.

The medical team feared that the boy would sustain further injuries from the incident, but when they found the boy, he was miraculously awake, apparently uninjured from the trip out of the ambulance and showing no negative mental effects as a result of being deprived of oxygen in the river.

He adamantly refused to go to the hospital, and the stunned paramedics agreed to treat his relatively minor injuries on the scene.

"It was incredible," paramedic Amanda Rush said. "We were worried he wasn't going to make it at all, being underwater for so long, but he seemed perfectly fine. Maybe falling out of the ambulance knocked water out of his lungs; I don't know how he survived all that. This is the kind of thing that almost never happens, and he's very lucky to have come out of this so well."

The boy in question left the scene before any paramedics could get his name, and could not be found to comment.

* * *

 ** _Welcome to the Nightmare Realm_**

 **17, he/him pronouns**

 ** _~we are not alone~_**

6/24/2156

My Week in Gravity Falls, Day 2/7

After my talks with the locals yesterday, I determined that most of the weirdness in Gravity Falls resided in the thick, untamed woods surrounding the town itself. That is where the gnomes, cervitaurs, water spirits, shapeshifters, and the like are to be found—if you believe the people of the town, which I do so far.

Anyways, today I set out into the woods with my camera and some other gear to see if this town really was as supernatural as it's supposed to be. While I did spot a number of interesting and unusual plants and animals (I'll put up the pictures in a second post once I can sort through them), more interesting than even the two-headed lizard was a kid I ran into, who seemed to be researching the place like I was. He was carrying a practically ancient pen and even more ancient journal, apparently taking notes on the things he found in the woods. He seemed startled to see me, but talked a bit about the things he'd found in town, and warned me away from a couple areas of the forest he said would be too dangerous for me. He said he lived in the town, but didn't leave the woods much, and his journal seemed to back that up—the pages were crammed full of things the kid had found in the woods. All in all he was friendly, and getting to talk to a fellow paranormal researcher was what I thought would be the highlight of the day.

I headed back into town around sunset to grab dinner at the local diner, and that's when things took a turn for the truly weird.

Sarah, the waitress from yesterday, was on shift again today and struck up a conversation with me. When I mentioned the kid I'd met in the woods, though, she seemed to get really confused, and said that there were no boys anywhere near the age of the boy I'd met (who seemed to be about twelve) living in town.

I thought he might live in a neighboring town, and cross into the woods of Gravity Falls in his travels, but Sarah told me that Gravity Falls doesn't have any neighboring towns for a couple dozen miles, so the kid had to have walked quite a bit to get here if that was the case.

Then another waiter, I think his name was Raff, overheard and started talking too. Apparently his grandmother had known a kid who fit the description of the kid I met, a total recluse. He'd met someone his grandma claimed was the same kid a couple of times, always seeming about the same.

This left me with a couple ideas, of varying supernaturality:

\- Somewhere in the woods there's a family of very similar-looking recluses who so rarely come out that most residents of the town don't even know they exist

\- A shapeshifter or bodysnatcher-type creature has been assuming the same form for decades

\- Vampire/ghost kid who wanders the woods of the town for some reason

I'll try and find the kid again tomorrow and maybe see what's going on with him, but in the meantime, do you guys have any thoughts or theories on what might be going on?

* * *

 **The Top 10 Spookiest Haunted Places in Oregon**

4/10

The Shack, Gravity Falls, Oregon

Locals' stories about this run-down haunted building hidden away in the woods of the town vary, but all agree on one thing: it's haunted by the ghost of a young boy. The most popular stories in town talk of him being beaten to death by abusive parents, accidentally drowning while swimming in the lake, and being killed in a burglary, among other things, all of which locals say would have happened well over two hundred years ago. The boy has haunted the Shack, and the woods of Gravity Falls, since then.

While the ghost is reclusive and stays to the least populated areas of the town whenever he can, he seems open to talking with people who do manage to find him, especially those who he perceives as being interested in the supernatural. He is apparently unaware of his death, and wanders the Shack and woods as if he is alive, eagerly seeking out the supernatural occurrences of the town to document in his withering journal.

* * *

StatesWiki – The world's largest open-editing site on the states of the former U.S.A.

Oregon

Jump to: 2894 to 3006

 **2894 to 3006**

In the year 2894, America finally lost the Great Niagara War with Canada, and gave up a number of its northwestern states to Canada in the resultant peace treaty _(1)_. Oregon was one of the southernmost states to be offered, and was quickly assimilated, along with Washington and Idaho, to the Canadian government's system as part of the new Canadian territory of  Pines, named after the Canadian general who won the Battle of Washington and therefore the Great Niagara War, Alisynn Pines _(2,5)_.

Oregon was, for the most part, integrated without incident. Residents of Oregon were given a fairly standard thirty-day period from the transfer of ownership of the state to either move or apply for Canadian residency _(1)_. A few riots and some looting took place during this time of transition _(3)_ , but this chaos was not long-lived. For more information on the few riots that broke out during the time of transition, see List of Oregon Transfer Riots.

The territory of Pines was split into twelve counties, largely divided along existing county and city lines _(4)_ (see  List of Pines Counties for more detail). Oregon was split into four counties, one of which shares land with the former Washington. These were counties 1, 2, 5 and 6.

All counties in the territory of Pines were under the governance of Canada, with elected representation in the Canadian government _(4)_. For more information on the governance of Canadian territories, see  Canada's Rule of Former States.

 **Oddities in County 2**

Initial scouting for organizing Pines revealed a number of peculiarities in a town integrated into the new County 2 _(5,6)_. Scouts, surveyors, and land planners alike reported seeing impossible creatures and plants, as well as events that broke the laws of physics and reality, in a town the locals called Falls of Gravity _(5)_. Canadian officials soon shortened that name to Falls and began deciding how to handle the abnormalities of the town to protect public safety _(6)_.

It was quickly decided that the town, with its dangerous irregularities, was not safe for full integration, or any human habitation at all _(6)_. The town was evacuated and sealed with fences and walls, and later energy fields, to prevent citizens from entering and potentially being harmed. Any entry to the town of Falls was declared illegal and criminalized with a punishment of up to seven years of jail time as a deterrent to potential entrants _(6)_.

Some of the oddities described in initial reports include mythical animals such as gnomes, merpeople, and shadow creatures that follow travelers in the woods but remain unseen. Plants were reported to glow or grant strange properties to those who ate them, and crystals that grew and shrunk objects around them were also found.

In addition, several deadly creatures and other phenomena were discovered in the town that have been censored from public record so that citizens will not seek them out to prove their existence. It is these oddities that helped officials determine that Falls was not safe for human habitation and should be permanently sealed.

* * *

 **Into the Underground:**

 _Urban Explorers of North America_

Expedition to Fall, Oregon

(Image download failed)

The Canadian government's 500-year criminalization of entry to a section of County 2 called Fall has lapsed in the last few months, which means that while deterrents to entry are still in place, looking around the place won't land your ass in jail (for the time being). We decided to take advantage of this lapse to explore the town.

(Image download failed)

The energy fields and other modern methods of keeping people out of the town have fallen into disrepair lately. The primary field only operates when the sun is set, so we arrived early in the morning to have as much time as we could to explore the town without having to spend the night.

(Image download failed)

Most of the buildings were in fair condition, still standing if worn down, which was much better than we expected before seeing the town ourselves.

(Image download failed)

(Image download failed)

The sheer amount of time this town has been untouched is really obvious, especially when you take more than a sweeping glance and see all the details of the place.

(Image download failed)

(Image download failed)

(Image download failed)

It's not just the ancient building materials, but also the omnipresent use of Old English for signs, graffiti, and all the other writing in town. Seeing it used outside of academic works and period movies was a bit trippy, like time traveling.

(Image download failed)

(Image download failed)

What was really creepy about the town, though, was the old shack we found in the woods around it.

(Image download failed)

A lot of the stories we found about the weirdness in Fall were centered around a shack in the woods that had a similar description to the one we found, but like stereotypical horror movie victims, we went in anyway.

(Image download failed)

(Image download failed)

(Image download failed)

(Image download failed)

All the walls we saw inside were covered in Old English graffiti.

(Image download failed)

One of the explorers on our team, Dave, took Old English in college, so he was able to translate some of the graffiti for us.

It was all repeating phrases, as far as he could tell at least, which was pretty much guessing because the writing was overlapping so much, and in so many different writing materials. The marker (and what looked like dried blood) were almost unintelligible, but Dave looked at what had been carved into the walls and came up with a few of the repeating phrases:

(Image download failed)

"Remember then" or "Remember them" (Dave wasn't 100% on which of these it was)

"You're human"

"Alone forever"

Creepy, right? The place was giving us weird vibes from the moment we stepped in.

(Image download failed)

We never made it up the stairs, because we'd been hearing weird noises from up there for a while, and when we started to go up, there was a vaguely human figure at the top of the stairs.

(Image download failed)

This is the only shot we got of it, because everything went to hell once we realized what was there. We'd all read the stories about Fall before coming here, and this thing looked like the Undead Boy of Fall, so we booked it out of there.

(Image download failed)

(Image download failed)

We explored most of the town, and I don't think we really need another run-in with the supernatural, so I doubt we'll go back.

* * *

 **PagaNet dot Com!**

"Your source for info on magic, the supernatural, obscure gods, and more!"

Obscure Gods: Alcor the Forgotten One

God of: Childhood, memory

Rumored to become visible in the woods of Oregon, the god Alcor takes the form of a young boy eager to explore and discover. He casually recounts events from centuries ago to those lucky enough to find him.

Invoke Alcor in spells involving children and youth, such as baby blessing spells, or in memory spells, like lost item or test prep spells.

Alcor should not be invoked in matters concerning adulthood or spells with negative effects, such as curses. The younger the age of the person invoking Alcor, the more powerful the effects are.

* * *

Top 50 Unsolved Mysteries we Left on Earth

Human habitation of the planet Earth outside of research work has all but ceased in the last century, and humanity has turned to living among the stars instead. Here's a list of some of the greatest mysteries we were never able to crack before we left.

3: The ageless boy in Fall

Photo, video, and holo records from a span of thousands of years depict a boy appearing around twelve years old with a unique birthmark on his forehead. The boy appears the same age in all records of him, and is apparently ageless and immortal, having lived through wars and a 500-year+ period of total isolation. How this is possible, or if science can explain it, is still unknown.

* * *

…

…

…

Even the most fun toys get broken and worn-down eventually, and lose their spark. Even the best of puppets have a limited lifespan, in terms of being entertaining even if not in terms of actual lifespan.

And this one hadn't been fun for centuries.

Sure, Bill thought, at the beginning he was a riot. Watching him weep and wail and fight was even better than having a meat puppet to use for chaos, and watching him inflict on himself the pain he'd so desperately tried to avoid while possessed was sweet, delicious irony.

But all the life had died out of Pine Tree centuries ago, it seemed. After his sister, and her children, and their children, and any ties he'd had with civilization had died, he'd gone quiet.

While breaking toys was the most fun a demon could have, playing with the broken ones wasn't very entertaining, especially when they couldn't even be used with other toys.

Bill had puppets elsewhere, now, in other star systems, even. The symbols and notes this one had left had resulted in his image, and his power, being spread across the galaxy, and had made it so _easy_ for him to make a few more deals, pick up the possession of dozens more people.

He supposed that Pine Tree deserved some thanks for that, and at the same time he could dispose of a broken toy.

And so, when the sun swallowed the earth in its dying heat, Bill cut the power he'd been using to keep the boy alive, and Pine Tree _burned_.


End file.
